Characters: George

His name 'George' means 'farmer' and Milton comes from the poet 'John Milton' who wrote a poem called Paradise Lost suggesting that their dream will not come true

George is 'small and quick, dark of face, with restless eyes and sharp, strong features' - this suggests that he is intelligent but also unhappy as he is 'restless'

'I aint nothing to scream about' -george is modest

George symbolises the itinerant worker - a decent man trapped in their jobs but haunted by lonliness. The dream of living 'off the fatta the lan'' makes his life bearable and also teh dream of hundreds of others.. Crooks -'Ever'body wants a little piece of lan''

'If I was alone I could live so easy' - George yearns to have a 'normal' life without Lennie

George's companionship with Lennie starves off the lonliness but also gives him a role in life. This makes him different, and even gives him a status. 'We kinda look after each other'

George is full of compassion which makes him wish for a clean death for Lennie

George is a responsible person, he brought Lennie to the farm and so he takes responsibility for them. 'You hadda George, I swear you hadda'

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Characters: Lennie

Lennie Small - ironic name

'He's jes' like a kid'

Lennie is a simpleton, and his tragedy is that he has never learnt how to control his body

He is 'a huge man, shapless of face ... and he walked... the way a bear drags his paws. His arms... hung loosely'

'[Lennie] can put up more grain alone than most pairs can' strength is shown as an asset in their work

'He was so scairt he couldn't let go of that dress. And he's so damn strong you 'know' shows Lennie uses his strength when he's scared

'Me an' him goes ever' place together' Lennie is totally dependent on George

Lennie is described in terms of an animal more than a child

Animals are innocent, in that they do not have to moral capacity to tell right from wrong. However, anumials can be dangerous as they have no morals and act on instinct

Lennie is compared to a bear 'the way a bear drags his paws'

The only way he can cope is to be like a tame dog, tethered aways to his master, George.

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Characters: Slim

Slim is a 'jerkline skinner' in control of a team of horses and is seen as the leading worker in the Bunk House

Slim meets George and Lennie in the bunk house

Slim gives a puppy to Lennie

Slim agrees to the Killing of Candy's Dog, must be right thing to do 'Slim's word was law'

He is 'godlike' and 'moved with majesty'

He is 'understanding beyond thought' he realises instinctively how George and Lennie get along and why George had to kill Lennie

'His hands, large and lean, we as delicate in their action as those of a temple dancer'

'His authority was so great that his word was taken on any subject.'

'Maybe ever‟body in the whole damn world is scared of each other.'

Despite being charasmatic, prince-like, understanding and skilled at what he does, Steinbeck also implies that Slim is trapped by the life that he leads

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Characters: Candy

Candy lost his right hand in a farming accident

Candy is 'tall, stoop shouldered old man' - his physical weaknesses are emphasised from the start

Candy is also described through his dog 'a drag-footed sheep dog, grey of muzzle and with pale, blind old eyes'

Candy's relationship with his dog is like George's relationship with Lennie. It is not something rational but an antidote to loneliness

When the dog dies, it is almost as if he has died himself.

Candy and his dog represent was is undesirable on the farm. The dog is a reminder of what happens when you're not useful. Survival of the fittest

The only person Candy can stand up to is someone in a weaker position than himself

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Characters: Curley

Curley is the boss's son

'a thin young man with a brown face, with brown eyes and head of tightly curled hair'

'He hates big guys. He's alla time picking scraps with the big guys. Kinf of like he's mad at 'em because he ain't a big guy'

Curley only sees the world thorugh his wife and is so supremely selfish. His inability to control or understand his wife brings around her deat.

Curleys power is a huge and a good example of social injustice and corruption.

Curley is a main figure in revealing the injustice of the world the ranch hands live and work in

His hand represent his ability, strength and masculinity

Curley is antagonist in the novel. Whenever he is there, George and Lennie's dream is ruined

He is vindictive, angry and violent

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Characters: Curley's Wife

Only woman on the farm

Described in a limited and misgynistic way. - 'she had full, rouged lips and widespread eyes, heavily made up. Her fingernails were red. Her hair hung in little rolled clusters, like sausages'

Also described as a 'tart'and seen as '*********' by the ranch hands

Curley's wife is very lonely, along with so many others in the novel and she is trapped in a loveless marriage

'You know what I can do if you open your trap', 'I can get you strung up on a tree so quick it aint even funny' - she can be vindictive and she will use the power her status gives her, even if its unfair

'He says he was going to put be in the movies' - Curley's Wife has her dreams destroyed to and this is a majot cause of her loneliness

'She was very pretty and simple, and her face was sweet and young' - Curley's wife was never really evil. Her punishment outweighs any crimes she may have commited.

Steinbeck described her in the 'Miss Luce' letter that she is essentially good and trusting person who grew up 'in an atmosphere of fighting and suspision'. She is not particually over sexed but has been forced to realise that her sexuality is the only thing she has

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Characters: Crooks

Crooks is the 'stable buck', the man who provides support for many of the horses and mules

He has a 'busted' spine and the characters refer to him as the '*****'

'He reads a lot. Got books in his room' - Crooks is probably the most intelligent man on the farm

'Crooks was a proud, aloof man... his eyes... seemed to glitter with intenisty... he had thin, pain tightened lips'